Spring-clasp.



F. C. GERFIN. SPRING CLASP. APPLlCATlON FILED MAYZS. 19H.

Patented-July 24, 1917-.

To all whom it may concern:

FREDERICK C. GERFIN, OF COLUMBIA. PENNSYLVANIA.

SPRING-CLASP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented. July 24, 1917.

Application filed May 25, 1917. Serial No. 171,017.

Be it known that I, FREDERICK C. GERFIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Columbia, in the county of Lancaster and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spring- Clasps; and I hereby declare that the fol lowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

This invention is a novel spring clasp or locking device adapted to hold hasps, latches and other devices securely and to take the place of pins, rings, locks, bolts and the like ordinarily employed for securing the hasps and like fasteners. It is particularly designed for use with lunch boxes and the like to fasten the hasps and prevent casual opening thereof. The invention provides an absolutely secure clasp which cannot be come casually disengaged, and which will be superior in efliciency, convenience, and appearance to the ordinary hasp fastening devices heretofore employed.

I will explain the invention as embodied in the form thereof shown in the drawings, which illustrates a practical spring clasp for locking hasps, and the like; and in the claims are summarized the essential features of the invention for which protection is desired.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a detail perspective view of the clasp as applied to an ordinary boxfastening hasp.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged the clasp detached.

Fig. 3 is a side view of the clasp.

Fig. 4L is a sectional view illustrating the mode of applying the clasp to a' hasp.

Fig. 5 is a similar view illustrating the mode of detaching the clasp from a hasp.

The clasp is preferably formed of sheet metal, and has a preferably flat body portion 1 provided with a transverse slot 1 through which the ordinary hasp loop can project when the clasp is applied to a hasp. The plate is also provided with a longitudinal slot 1* intersecting the slot 1 for a purpose hereinafter shown.

Attached to one end of this plate 1, and preferably formed integral therewith, is a tongue member which is connected to the plate by a bend 2 and has a forwardly projecting tongue portion that extends opbottom plan view of posite the slot 1*; the part 2 is preferably concavo-convex in cross section as indicated. The extremity 2 of this tongue 2 can be depressed through the slot 1 in plate 1 by applying pressure thereto.

he-clasp is shown as applied to an ordinary hasp fastening in Fig. 1, such fastening comprising a slotted hasp member 3 hinged to the top side of the box (or one member of the parts to be connected hasp) said member 3 having a slot 3 which is adapted to engage the eye or loop 4 of the hasp, which loop is attached to the other memberof the box, or part to be fastened. The construction of the hasp .is ordinary and well understood. It is necessary to employ some means to prevent the hasp mem ber 3 disengaging the eye 4:. Ordinarily a pin or ring is slipped through the eye after the member 3 is engaged therewith; I employ my novel clasp for this purpose; as shown in Fig. 1.

In order to engage such clasp with the eye, it is first necessary to place the end 1 of the plate 1 (adjacent the point of the tongue 2) upon the eye and then forcibly depress the point 2 of the tongue until it is in position to enter the eye, as indicated in Fig. 4; then the clasp is moved lengthwise, the plate sliding upon the outer side of the eye and the tongue sliding inside the eye, until the latter enters the slot 1 whereupon the clasp assumes the position shown in Fig. 1 and (in dotted lines in Fig. 4) thus securely locking the hasp, and the clasp is at the same time itself locked against longitudinal movement by the eye, the tongue 2 locking the hasp, and the eye 4 locking the clasp.

To disengage the clasp from the hasp it is necessary to first raise the end 1 of the clasp above the adjacent end of the tongue and outer side of the eye, as indicated in Fig. 5, and then by pushing the clasp end wise the end 1 of the plate slides over the outside of the eye and the tongue 2 slides inside thereof until the tongue disengages the eye, whereupon the clasp is disengaged from the hasp, and the latter can be opened.

While the invention is especially designed and adapted for the purpose specified it is obvious that it could be readily employed for other uses in the arts where it is desired by the to have a part detachably and securely atr ably engaged with the eye t if the hasp member 3 was not present and that a tag or other device could be suspended from the bend 2 or from the plate 1, and if so suspended or attached it could be detachably locked to an eye in the same manner that the clasp is detachably locked to the eye of the hasp as shown in the drawing.

lVhat I claim is:

1. A clasp comprising a plate having a transverse slot adapted to engage an eye and a tongue yieldably attached to said plate at one end and extending across said slot and adapted to pass through the eye to lock the plate thereto.

2. A clasp comprising a plate having intersect-ing slots, and a tongue connected at one end with the plate and extending parallel with and lying beside one of the slots.

3. A clasp comprising a plate having a transverse slot adapted to engage an eye,

end of said plate by a bend, said plate and tongue being formed integral, the said tongue being adapted to enter the eye and to have its end depressed or projected through the said longitudinal slot to permit the engagement or disengagement of the clasp from an eye.-

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I affix my signature.

FREDERICK C. GERFIN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, .D. C. 

